Lot 2178
Great Britain. Silver Crown by Tanner, 1658. Famed copy of the Cromwell portrait crown, by J.S. Tanner (1706-75), engraver at the Royal Mint under the reign of George II. S-3226B. ESC-13. Edge not viewable in the slab but the consignor notes there is no die flaw on its edge. Much rarer than the Simon crown (which is "scarce" while the Tanner coin is rated R4 by ESC, extremely rare, just 11 to 20 known). Prospective bidders should take this rare opportunity to compare the two 1658 crowns in this auction. Simon's engraving on the original shows a brooding, unpleasant pseudo-king, somehow evincing his war-like disposition in the aspect of his jowls and the "anger" in his eye. This was the work of a supreme artist, and Cromwell in life was Simon's model. By contrast, the wonderful "copy" by Johann Sigismund Tanner, a marvelously talented engraver in his own right but the product of a later century, shows Cromwell as a figure along the order of that of a Roman emperor. There is no mood in his face now. But rather, the engraving is altered to give a finer quality, calmer and statuesque. It is not lesser; it is different. What Tanner in fact did was locate the puncheons used by Simon, re-engrave them, and create new dies that almost duplicated Simon's. Almost. Certainly it was by intention, not error, that he made the date a sharp, singular 1658, not 8/7. Certainly he paid homage to the great Thomas Simon by respecting the minute differences in engraving of the earlier piece. At the same time, Tanner imparted intimate detail in Cromwell's hair (but left his laurels less pronounced) and gave an extraordinary clarity to the details of the reverse shield. Tanner also substituted rounded, slightly more even beading to the rims. The Cheshire Collection specimen of this great rarity is one of the very finest extant, a gorgeous coin with ancient gray toning, almost identical in appearance to the Simon crown which is its complement. NGC graded Proof 64.
Estimated Value $16,000 - 20,000.
The Cheshire Collection.
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| Realized $14,375 |
